Author: spanishgarden

Yes it is that time of year again when you have a real opportunity to get lots of plants for nothing. Everything is sprouting and sending out luscious green shoots just ripe for you to take some cuttings. So don’t be afraid of taking cuttings, not all of them will take, but, you will get some free plants.

9th April. Things I have been doing lately:

🌸 Dividing Carnations. In my last post I showed you how to take cuttings from Carnations; if you weren’t listening that’s your own fault. Anyway, now I have been dividing one of my carnation plants that has become too rangy and woody in the centre. This is a simple exercise that will rejuvenate the plant. Take a spade and slice directly into the woody centre of the plant. In effect you are halving the plant into two, although with large plants you can quarter them. Once you have the plant divided, place it on your potting bench and discard all the woody areas. You should aim to be left with clumps of caranation with a good bit of root stock attached. Pot the new parts up and leave on the potting bench till about September then replant.

The photos below show the woody original plant, the same plant dismembered on the potting bench and then the final two future plants potted up. (Click on each photo for enlarged view).

✂️ Taking cuttings from climbers. All climbers send out new wispy whip like shoots at this time of year. This is the best time to take new cuttings before any flowers appear and the stems start to go woody. Again the process is simple. Look for long whip like non flowering stems. Cut them off with a sharp knife (never secateurs) just below a growth bud. Place them immediately into a plastic bag this stops them drying out and is especially important if you are spending time taking lots of cuttings. Once you are back at your potting bench prepare a number of four inch pots with good free draining compost. Using your knife make a fresh cut just below a growth node and then dip the stem in growth hormone (not essential, but helpful). Place your cuttings four to a pot around the edge of the pot; this helps them take. Later when they are showing signs of good growth, you can pot them up individually.

The first photo below shows the type of growth you should be looking for to take cuttings. The second photo shows my trusty cuttings equipment: knife, plastic bag, hormone rooting liquid and dibber to make holes. The final photo shows the potted up cuttings, in this case: Solanum, Plumbago and Pink Trumpet Vine. (Click on each photo for enlarged view).

🦠 Planting out Euonymus. I have a number of Euonyium cuttings that have become quite large plants and are now unstable in their pots because they are top heavy. These plants grow well here in Spain and don’t even mind some dappled shade. Because of this I decided to plant them under a large Peruvian False Pepper tree where I already had a couple.

It is difficult digging under trees because of the dry compacted soil. So my normal tactic is to dig a bit then fill the hole with water to let is soften the soil, before starting again. The first photo below shows my early digging efforts.

The next photo shows my newly planted plants, they will love it here.

Now whenever you dig holes like this always save the soil. Top soil, for some reason I have never been able to figure out is impossible to buy in Spain. So if you get any soil save it for future use. I have made a mesh frame which fits over my wheel barrow and I use this to “raddle and sift” soil to get rid of old roots and stones. The end product is then stored in old compost sacks till I need it; and I always do. The first photo below shows my mesh raddler invention (patent pending). The second photo shows the end product ready to be bagged up.

👍 Growing those thumbnails. All good gardeners should grow their thumbnails long at this time of the year. If you have nice long thumbnails, then as you wander round the growing garden you always have your secateurs at hand at the end of your thumb to pinch off and dead head plants. Simples! The photo below shows my aged old gardeners thumb, together with that of Cruella (my wife). In case you can’t tell the difference mine is the one that is not tipped with real blood.

No not Nero the Roman Emperor who burned Rome down whilst fiddling, but Nero one of our Labradors who has a penchant for similar levels of destruction without the musical accompaniment. I wouldn’t mind but I had just dealt with his previous mining activity only a few day before. My lawn is beginning to look like the 4,o00 holes in Blackburn Lancashire mentioned by the Beatles.

All of this hole filling is taking me away from the excitement of getting Spring going in the garden. But never mind here we go, let’s get gardening.

4th April – Things I have been doing lately:

🐶 Repairing the lawn. Because of Nero’s particular habit of mining my lawn I have to repair the grass in such a way that he cannot go back to the same spot. To achieve this I use a fine mesh wire laid over the repaired spot. Firstly, I fill the hole with a mixture of 2/3rds top soil and one third compost. The hole is slightly overfilled and then rolled or trodden down till it is level. Secondly, I sow a particularly hardy type of gramma seed that is suitable for our hot climate here in Spain. This also has the advantage of being coated with a bird repellent. Thirdly, I peg down my wire mesh protective cover to stop him re-digging in the future. Finally, I cover the whole thing with a protective fleece to provide the new seed with a good environment and just in case the bird repellent doesn’t work. After all this I water and make sure the seed never fully dries out. The photos below show the process (click on each photo for a larger image).

🌱 Sowing late Autumn perennial seeds. Every year I swear that I will sow seeds of late Autumn perennials so that I can fill the gaps in my borders left by Marigolds and Marguerites. But every year I get swept up in Summer gardening and forget. By the time the gaps appear it is too late and I am left cursing big unsightly gaps in my borders. Now you may say, “why not just go out and buy a few plants”. But for me that wouldn’t be gardening, that’s shopping, and if you don’t know the difference, stop reading now. The real joy of gardening is growing things from seeds or cuttings. Occasionally you may have to buy the odd plant to get access to cuttings etc, but I have neighbours and friends who purchase a new garden full of plants every Summer.

If you would like an enjoyable and cost effective way to garden then try growing some seeds. It is fun and even if things go wrong a pack containing 100’s of seeds cost a fraction of what a mature plant will. I am planting three late Autumn perennials: Gaura Lindheimeri, Geum Blazing Sunset and Verbena. The photos below show me about scatter the seeds on to a mixture of compost with added Perlite. The final photo shows them getting acclimatised in our Games Room as I have no space in my little mini greenhouse. (click on each photo for a larger image).

✂️ Taking cuttings from Carnations. Carnations love the sun of Spain and can grow in really hot full sun. But after a while they can get woody and the centre dies back. Now you can deal with this in one of two ways. Using two spades you can half or even quarter the plant, pull out the dead parts and plant each part back and with a bit of luck you will have nice new plants. The other way is to take cuttings. But with Carnations you don’t actually cut. Look for strong non-flowering stems and then just pull the end off whilst holding the main stem.

After gathering a few fresh stem ends, strip back the bottom leaves, dip into hormone powder (don’t worry if you haven’t got any) and then plant 4 or so close to the edge of a four inch pot. Keep this in the shade for 2/3 days so the cuttings get acclimatised and to stop them drying out in the sun. After this treat them like a normal cutting. What’s not to like free plants. The photos below show the process and end with happy little cuttings bedding down they will be ready to plant out in September. (click on each photo for a larger image).

🍊 Stripping suckers off Orange trees. By now your Citrus trees should be in blossom, so if you haven’t pruned them this year, don’t do it now if you want fruit next year. But what you can do is strip off suckers from the trunk and lower branches of your tree. Suckers are those fresh (very green looking) little mini branches that spring out of the bark. Most old trees will “sucker” as they try to open up new routes for sap. The problem with suckers is that they take the energy away from the tree in unproductive areas. You want all the goodness to go into the fruiting branches so suckers have to go.

It is easy to get rid of suckers in the early stages before they get “woody” just don your gardening gloves and pull each sucker straight down; it will come away easily in your hand. If you leave them you will need to use seccateurs. The photo below shows me actively “suckering”.

🧙‍♀️ Cruella’s good works. People some times ask me what Cruella (my wife) does during the Summer months when she cannot go out during the day without turning into a pile of ash when hit by sunlight. Well the answer is good works. But let me explain, she doesn’t actually do good works I have to fool her into thinking that she is doing something to further the cause of Witchcraft; her real interest.

Anyway at the moment we have a campaign to buy Easter Eggs for the children of Orihuela Orphanage, and are asking local people to donate chocolate eggs. We have been very successful and almost have the 80 eggs we need. In addition our local Pub (the Rusty Nail) has been collecting funds for us and raised a magnificent sum to support the Church and get the orphans those extra eggs. To involve Cruella and keep her out of the Sun I have made her Treasurer and she has to count the money. I couldn’t mention the orphans of course so I told her it was to buy broomsticks for needy witches in Africa.

The photo below shows Cruella happily counting the “broomstick” fund. She was so pleased to be involved that she even bought her own Security t-shirt.

We are at our English home for a week or so but before we left there were some important jobs to get on with. I didn’t really want to come back at the moment as Spring is a crucial time in the garden but we had to be here to welcome our idiot son back from Japan. At least Cruella told me that was the reason, but I have since found out she wanted to buy the latest indoor cauldron – more later – let’s get on with the gardening.

19th March: Things I have been doing lately:

🌱 Pricking our seedlings. If you have sown annual seedlings then now is the time to start pricking them out before they get too overcrowded. Now I know the term “pricking out” has those of you with the more puerile minds sniggering, but the process is simply one of moving seeds from their first seed tray and planting them more spaciously in a second. The photo below shows my trays of Marigolds waiting to be pricked out – stop it, it’s not funny and makes you look childish.

It is very important that you do not prick out seedlings until they have “true” leaves. The first leaves that come through are just forerunners of real or “true” leaves. Once you have 6/8 true leaves then you can prick out the seedlings. You should use a pencil to gently lever the seedlings out, then always holding them by their leaves, never the stem, gently probe amongst the seedlings to find those with the best roots. Be ruthless, 90% of the seedlings will be heading for the compost heap so you want only the best. The photos below show the process in action.

Once you have selected a good strong seedling replant it into its new seed tray by gently lowering it into a pre dibbered hole. Push the seedlings roots right into the hole using the tip of the pencil. It is important that all the roots are pushed into the hole. The photo below shows a seedling being rehomed.

Finally place the new seed trays on the potting bench for a couple of hours out of the Sun. They will need to be put back into my mini greenhouse for a week or so before gradually being acclimatised to the outside. The photo below shows my new seedlings which will be ready to plant out in about two weeks. The seed tray that you can see in this photo that has not been pricked out is my reserves. Despite my best efforts snails will get some of them so you needs reserves to fill gaps.

🍊 Pruning Citrus trees. Orange and Lemon trees in particular need to be pruned and thinned every third year. The timing of this is always tricky as you need to undertake the process before the new blossom gets going or you are pruning off next year’s crop. The difficulty is that in heavy cropping trees such as our we are still picking and “juicing” oranges every day. The way I get around this is to concentrate on one tree each year. I prioritise the tree and pick all of its fruit first before picking from any other tree.

When pruning citrus you have to be brutal. Start in the inside of the tree and cut out any branches that are growing straight up. Then cut out any diseased and crossing branches. Then create a large gap at the centre of the tree that is open to the sky. Finish the whole thing off by using your hedge trimmers to just gently bring the tree back into a tidy rounded shape. The Spanish say that the end result should be a tree that a pigeon can fly straight through. The first photo below shows one of our trees with its congested overgrown centre that is stopping light and air getting to the centre of the tree. The second photo shows the treeafter its centre has been opened up.

🦔 Weeding and feeding Roses and bleeding to death. If you have Roses (and if not why not, they love the Spanish climate) now is the time to weed underneath them before they start into real growth and get too big. Using your trowel get right underneath each Rose clear all the dead leaves etc so that there is no homes for snails and slugs. Once you have cleared the debris then start to dig out the weeds, making sure you get all of them.

In Spain we have a particularly pernicious grass that loves getting right underneath Roses and has long roots that end in a clump of pearl like bulblets. It is important that you get every part of this grass out including the pearl bulblets which is difficult as they deliberately break away when tugged. When you eventually get the weed out, do not put this particular grass on your compost heap as it can withstand the heat of the compost heap and come back to haunt you next year. The photo below shows the weed with its deadly little bulblets.

Once you have cleared under the Roses then now is the time to give them their first feed. Use a specialist Rose food (granulated is best as it is longer lasting) and distribute a small handful under each plant. Once you have completed this top up the soil under each plant with good compost. Now I have to confess that I used store bought compost this year as last year I used my own and this resulted in too many weeds. Commercial compost will be “cooked” at a much higher temperature which will kill all weed seeds. Under the Roses is the only place I use commercial compost as it is impossible to hoe underneath when they are in bloom. Everywhere, else I use my own compost and hoe like a murderous Jack Ketch – history and gardening; look it up. Complete the whole process by profusely watering each Rose.

The first photo below shows one of my climbing Roses receiving a well deserved meal, other Rose foods are available. The second photo shows the process of topping up with good compost.

🚑 Gardening health and safety. Now I am going to depart from gardening blog to cover health and safety issues. Weeding under Roses can be a very bloody job as Rose thorns will tenaciously rip at your arms despite the strongest gardening gloves. This will leave you covered in scratches and bleeding profusely. Now we gardeners are a hardy bunch so we normally carry on then give our wounds a perfunctory wash later. However, Sepsis (blood poisoning) can be a real problem for gardeners and there are many deaths every year. Nowadays I have strong medicinal alcohol that I apply to my many gardening wounds at the end of a day of doing bloody battle with Roses. I steal Cruella’s (my wife) make up removal pads (industrial strength) apply the alcohol and vigorously rub this into all cuts and scratches. The downside of this is that it stings like crazy. The upside is I have invented new dance moves.

The photos below show my bloodied and bruised arm together with my anti sepsis saviour.

🍔 Feeding the lawn. Unlike feeding the Roses, feeding the lawn is extremely pleasurable. Using a wheeled hopper feeder I just stroll up and down the lawn scattering my largesse to the grateful adoring grass. Now that the ground temperature has warmed up you will soon find that your grass will leap into growth. Feeding will ensure that each blade of grass gets a good start after the depredations of Winter. When feeding grass you must be careful not to overdose as you can “burn” the lawn and end up with unsightly black patches.

My lawn is in particular need of tender loving care as I have been wheeling large rocks etc across it as I built my water feature. The end result is that lots of the lawn has compacted and I will need to do some work in aerating when we get some rain (if ever). The photo below shows my trusty wheeled feeder and my unsightly compacted lawn.

🧙‍♀️ Cruella has a new high tech Cauldron. Cruella (my wife) has always prided herself in staying at the cutting edge of witchcraft. You can imagine my surprise when I returned home only to find that she has equipped our English home with in an indoor electric cauldron. This she assures me will be the envy of everyone else in her coven as she can now perform her spells no matter what the weather outside.

If you look carefully at the picture below you can see that she has already been experimenting with indoor spells. She has melted the clock, made the Hare bookends start boxing and seems to have created a round circle in our carpet.

I haven’t told you this so far because I have been working on it in secret. I started in October and I just finished this week. Yes, I know that is five months! but it’s not just digging you know, there has been lots of thinking time and restless nights worrying about making the wrong decision. Also, and probably most importantly I had to disguise my activity to Cruella (my wife) as I needed her involvement. Anyway it’s done; and if I can do it so can you. So here it is an idiots guide to building a water feature stream in your garden.

October 2018 to February 2019: Things I have been doing.

Building a water feature. There are 4 basic stages to building a water feature:

1. Deciding position and type of water feature
2. Design and laying out
3. Gathering materials and building
4. Planting out

There are lots of mini stages in between when you will change your mind, but that is fine that’s why you should take your time. Things that seem a good idea will turn out to be stupid, whilst things that you discounted will suddenly make perfect sense. Right here we go.

Deciding position. Ideally a water feature should be near where you sit or close to where you will hear the running water. I decided to break this rule straight away. Instead I chose an area of my lawn that was in full sun all day and just would not sustain grass. Last year I planted this area with bulbs and it was quite successful; but not really good enough. See the photo below. The type of water feature I decided on was a naturalistic stream, instead of a fountain or pond. Also, and quite Importantly, I needed the water to disappear when I didn’t want it, so that Mosquitos could not breed in it.

Design and laying out. Once you have decided on the type of waterfeature you want and where you want it, then you can begin to lay out the “footprint” on the ground. The best way to do this is to use your garden hose pipe laid on the ground and moved into the various shapes you might think you would like. You can then use this as a guide to mark out the ground. I was going for a stream effect so I moved the hosepipe around into various positions to see which worked best.

The next step is to mark out the design on the ground. I didn’t have any ground marking spray so I had to ask Cruella to borrow some of hers. The first photo below shows my first markings (but I did change this later). The second photo shows some of Cruella’s work (I never ask where she goes at night; but her dry cleaning bill is enormous).

Gathering materials and building. The building part consists of both getting materials and digging. You can go to a local garden centre and pay a fortune for rocks, or you can convince Cruella to go with you to the local fields and gather tons of local rocks and then carry them home in your car. I chose the latter and told Cruella I was building a Temple somewhat similar to Stonehenge but smaller. She believed me and is already planning sacrifices.

The first photo below shows how I began to use local rocks to follow the marked out design. The second photo shows how I needed to build up one end of the water feature to ensure the water would flow. You can use anything to gain hight. In my case I just used spare bricks and other things topped off by large tiles to give me an even platform. If you want to hear the water cascading down then you need to allow at least 2 inches of a drop. Click on each photo for a larger view.

The square shape inside the circle of rocks was where I was going to dig out the water sump. You will notice that I started with a smaller sump and then decided to mark out a larger one. The reason for this was I needed the sump not to run dry whilst the water was being pumped along and around the stream bed.

Once the basic outline was in place I began to dig out a trench for the return water feed. The basic idea is that there is a pump at the bottom of the water sump. This then pumps the water up the return pipe to the top of the stream, it then flows down into the sump only to be pumped back up again in a continuous stream. The photo below shows you how things were shaping up but I kept being flexible with the design.

In the first photo below we can see start of the sump being dug out with the return water feed in place and note the electrical conduit on the left this was to supply the power for the pump and a light to illuminate the water feature. You can also see the start of the membrane to cover the soil ready for a covering of stones. The next photo shows the ground covering stones in place and you will note that I have bought some bricks to provide the walls for retaining the water. You will also see that the water sump is getting deeper it took me about two weeks to dig the sump as the ground was like iron. Each day I would dig about two inches then fill the hole with water to soften the soil for the next days digging. I did try and convince Cruella that I was digging for treasure in the hope that she would join in, but she is not that stupid!

Once I was happy with the basic shape I began to prepare the stream bed. This involved making sure that I had an actual flow from top to bottom and I would not end up with a big puddle in the middle. I then laid a bed of fine sand all the way down the stream. This was then covered with an underlay that is specially woven to stop stones penetrating and puncturing the membrane. I was lucky at this stage as Cruella keeps a large role of “shroud” that she uses for her various activities she assured me it would be ok as she commented that “blood never leaks out so it should be fine”. The photo below shows everything duly shrouded (Cruella is entering this for a photo competition, she has entitled it “shroud for a giant”).

The next stage was to fit the membrane. This could not be done all in one go, so I fitted the sump out and then ran a continuous membrane all the way down the stream bed. I then overlapped these by about 10 inches and sealed the joint with glue made specially for this purpose. Note the gravel in the stream bed; this was one of my many mistakes as it was too small and would be washed down by the water. My friend David who very kindly did the electrics for me pointed this error out to me. This was on the same day that we discovered that the hose pipe I had lovingly dug into the ground for the return feed was too small and had to be completely replaced with a much larger diameter hose. The photo below shows the membrane in place.

Planting out. For the planting out stage I needed plants that could withstand full sun nearly all day. I had already allowed for this and months ago had take numerous interesting succulent cuttings ready to plant out. The various photos below show the finished water feature. On the right hand side are the succulents which are barely visible but will soon become mature. The plants on the left hand side and around the water feature are still ok for full sun. Note the classy touch of the Copper Heron (bourgeois eh). Click on each photo for a larger view.

In the short space of time we have between Winter’s end and Spring’s promise there are lots of jobs for you to be getting on with in your garden. The next few posts will be looking at all the things you need to get done now before Spring overwhelms you and we are off again on the gardening merry-go-round.

26th February: Things I have been doing lately.

🌾 Lawn repairs. To be honest it is a little bit early to be repairing lawns as the grass really hasn’t started growing. However, if you have dogs and a lawn then you will know that grass presents an irresistible desire in a dog to dig. One of our Labradors “Nero”, named after one of my wife Cruella’s all time heroes. Yes, it’s true the despotic Roman Dictator Emperor who burned Rome is right up there in her book with “Vlad the Impaler”.

Anyway, Nero is in common parlance a “diggy dog” and will take any opportunity to head to Australia via the lawn if given half a chance. Hence, he is put into his kennel and dog run when we are out, where he happily digs huge holes and lies in them. Sometimes when we come home all we can see is the top of his head peeping out; I believe he is half Labrador and half miner.

To repair his lawn wrecking activity I first fill in any holes with a mixture of compost and top soil. I brush this mixture into the hole and tamp it down by walking on it, (for big holes I use a roller). The first photo below shows this process in action. Once Iam happy with the repaired hole, I then cover it with a wire mesh which I hold down with large staples. Normally I would seed this at the same time, but it is still a bit too early for grass seed, so I will do this in 3 or 4 weeks. The second photo below shows the repaired hole waiting for seeding. The final photo shows the culprit hiding his face in shame.

🌴 Treating Palm trees. Now that the weather has started to warm up you will soon begin to see the dreaded Palm Weevil weaving its way around your Palms. This large Weevil which is about an inch to 3cm long is not a great flyer and makes a noise like a B52 bomber as it lumbers slowly through the sky amongst your Palms. I have been known to chase them around the garden whacking them out of the air with my shoes as weapons which I have removed to pursue them. Now a days I am more sophisticated and use my own method of chemical control.

Because my Phoenix Palms are so tall, I introduce insecticide into the tree through a pipe drilled into the trunk. The first photo below shows my sophisticated equipment. This includes a proprietary insecticide, a simple syringe to measure and an old “fairy liquid” bottle to transfer the liquid into the tube and then into the trunk. As the sap begins to rise this will take the insecticide up into the Palm fronds so that every munch becomes a toxic cocktail for the Weevils. The second picture below shows a Palm with its life saving tube. In case you were wondering what I get so upset about, the final photo shows a close up of a Weevil I took last Summer; you can guess what harm that big proboscis can do to Palm trees. (click on each photo to enlarge).

🥽 Cleaning up Cordyline and Yuccas. Aesthetically it is important to tidy up your Cordylines and Yuccas at this time of year. This means removing all the drooping and untidy lower leaves and leaving the stem nice and clean and handsome. This not only looks better it also reduces the chances of disease and pests getting at the plant. With Cordylines it is very simple just sit down next to the plant and gently pull downwards on the dropping leaves and they will come away in your hand very easily. The photos below show one of my Cordylines before and after its coiffure.

Now Yucca are a completely different kettle of fish. You need to gear up as if you are going to fight a gladiatorial duel with a Roman Dimachaerus gladiator (ancient history and gardening, I am spoiling you here). You need to wear protective glasses, a cap,and gardening gloves. Failure to do this will probably result in multiple lacerations, the loss of an eye and pierced ears.

With Yucca the technique for removing the dead fronds is different from Cordyline. Old dried Yucca fronds have the consistency of iron and a determination only to be removed if you know the correct technique. To successfully remove old Yucca fronds you must find the very lowest dried frond on the stem then pull sharply down and it should come away. You can then work your way up the stem making sure you only pull away the bottom frond every time. Because Yucca fronds overlap in a shield type structure they will only allow the bottom frond to be removed; and any attempt to pull fronds higher up the stem before the one beneath it has been removed will be futile. You have been warned.

The first photo below shows one of my potted Yuccas with its messy dried fronds. The second photo shows it nicely cleaned up and ready for another year of growth.

Now that the big winter cut down is over its time to get your garden ready for its Spring spurt of growth. In Spain we are having a lovely Winter with lots of sunshine and, unfortunately from a garden perspective, little rain. This can lull you into a false sense of security as you can tend to think your garden will stay like this for a long time, but it won’t! In 3 to 4 weeks time everything will spring to life and unless you have everything ready you will be playing catch up all Summer.

Right, so here we go these are some of the things you should be doing to get the best out of your garden this Summer. Cruella (my wife) has just read this over my shoulder and declared this the most boring thing she has ever read. I protested that it was essential reading for gardeners, she snorted and wine came down her nose. I am worried, I think she is beginning drinking earlier each evening ever since the cat died.

15th February: Things I have been doing lately.

💨 The garden blow job. Everytime I write that this blog gets the wrong sort of traffic. Those of you with a higher moral code will know that I am of course referring to blowing up leaves and other detritus off your gravelled areas, so please stop sending me emails for Russian brides.

You will remember that I reshaped the big Bay tree in my last post. Having left the leaves to dry out on the gravel it is now time to blow them all onto the lawn this serves two purposes: Firstly, it stop the leaves mulching down into the gravel and providing an area for weeds to set seed. Secondly, it’s an economical way of clearing up the leaves. Once blown on to the lawn the leaves can be mown up and then placed on the compost heap to mulch down. The photos below show my trusty blower having done its work and my mower after clearing the lawn.

💦 Checking irrigation. You should try and change your irrigation systems batteries at the same each year. I have 11 different irrigation systems all of which require the batteries to be changed annually. Now is the time to do this. Don’t assume just because your irrigation is working now that it will work all Summer. The batteries will go without warning and your precious plants will die quickly in the Summer heat. The photo below shows one of my many systems that need new batteries. Cruella has just gone by looked at my screen and made a deep moaning noise whilst making a pretend hanging gesture.

✂️ Taking early cuttings. To be honest it is too early to take cuttings, but as you go round your garden you will find succulents that have broken off in the wind (or been molested by Labradors) either way pick them up and place them in a little bit of water till you are ready to pot them up. Because succulents store water in their leaves and stems they last much longer than normal cuttings which must be potted up straight away.

Before planting your new cuttings take a knife (never secateurs or you will crush stems) and cut just below a leaf node and dip the cutting in hormone rooting powder/liquid. The photos below show some cuttings waiting to be potted up, the preparation process and their final place on the potting bench. Click on each photo to enlarge.

🌾 Getting ready to sow seeds. Now is the ideal time to plant some seeds. Hopefully you saved lots of seeds from last summer’s flowers. If so now it’s time to get plants for free. If not it’s your own fault (I did tell you), now you will have to go out any buy new plants!

I use a small cheap three shelf plastic mini greenhouse to grow all my seeds. This is all you need in Spain, a real greenhouse is not necessary in our temperature. The photo below shows my mini greenhouse waiting in its Winter position beside my shed.

Before you start planting seeds you need to make sure that you have washed everything down to ensure you are not passing last year’s pathogens on to this year’s seeds. Thoroughly wash all your seed trays and remove any old compost attached to them. Also wash your greenhouse down inside and out. This will both get rid of pathogens and clean it up to allow maximum light penetration. The photo below show my seed trays sparkling as they dry on the drive.

🌼 Sowing Marigold seeds. Now different seeds require different techniques. Some require to lie on the soil, some need to have a layer of compost over them and still others need pushing deep into the compost. Cruella has just gone past again holding a bottle she looked at my pictures and pretended that she was being sick. I think we need a new cat!

Marigolds are one of my favourite plants for here in Spain. They are simple to grow from seed and flower all Summer long in full Sun. To sow Marigolds you need to mix up a nice store bought compost with some Perlite to let lots of air into the soil and keep it nicely free draining. The photo below shows one of my trugs with compost and Perlite ready to mix. Also it is important to mention that you should make sure there are no lumps in your compost as these will hinder the seeds germinating.

Once you have the compost ready then just sprinkle lots of seeds over the surface of the compost and lightly cover by sieving a light covering of compost over the top. I use a little sieve from a seaside bucket and spade set. The photos below shows the seeds sprinkled in their seed trays ready for covering with compost. The second picture shows the sieving process that covers the seeds. Remember, just a light coating of compost or the seeds will struggle. Click on each photo to enlarge.

🥔 Sowing Butternut Squash seeds. Growing Butternut Squash is very easy all you need to do is save some seeds from a store bought Squash that you have used in cooking. Make sure the seeds are clean of all vestigial plant matter and have been washed and dried. Then simply place the seeds on top of your prepared compost with about 2 inches between each seed. You finish the process by using your finger to press each seed about half an inch into the compost and closing the compost around the seed. The photo below shows the Squash ready for sowing.

🌸 Sowing Pink Trumpet Vine seeds. I like Trumpet Vine and harvest seeds every year so that if necessary I can fill gaps in my hedges with this robust and colourful climber. Again, the method of sowing this type of seed is different. A little tip, if you look at seeds they normally give you a clue as to how they will germinate and the best way to sow them. Marigold seeds have sharp pointed ends and a slight feathering at one end that makes the seed capable of burrowing into soft soil. On the other hand Butternut Squash seed is heavy and coated with a strong outer coating that will provide sustenance to the seed whilst it lies on the ground waiting to get covered by nature.

Trumpet Vine seeds are completely different they are an air borne seed that is blown off the plant in strong winds and uses its helicopter type seed wings to pilot itself away from the mother plant. The first photo below shows a handful of Trumpet Vine seeds, note how the seed sits in a translucent case in between its two wings (isn’t God wonderful). The second photo shows them sitting in a seed tray where they will barely be covered with compost. Click on each photo to enlarge.

💧 Watering seeds. If you water seeds from the top as a lot of people do, then it is likely that you will damage the seedlings or cause “damping off” where the seeds will succumb to mould. It is far better to place the seed trays into a large tray with water for 10 minutes. The compost will suck up just the right amount of water. Do this every two or three days, depending on where you are storing the seed trays. Finally, place your seed trays into your mini greenhouse or somewhere they can get lots of light but not too hot. The photo below shows my seeds safely tucked up. I will keep you informed of progress.

Those of you familiar with this blog will know that the last job I undertake in the garden Winter cut back is to reshape my big Bay tree. I shaped this tree into a donut shape some 7 or more years ago and ever since then I have to do battle with it each Winter to bring it back into shape.

The process of fighting with the Bay tree is not for wimps. For weeks before the big day we glare at each other as we look for weaknesses in our respective defences. If you can imagine one of those boxing matches where the contestants belligerently eye each other up at the weigh in then you will have a flavour of what takes place. There are lots of false starts, sometimes as I walk by the tree I will kick the trunk just to show it who is boss. The tree in turn bashes me with its branches in high winds and drops things on my head.

As the day of the big cut back arrives, a deadly hush falls over the garden, all the plants know what is coming as they have seen this battle of the giants play out year after year. Neighbours set up chairs close to my fence and take bets on how many times I will fall out of the tree and how much blood I will lose. I can feel the excitement is getting to you so let’s get on with it.

7th February: Things I have been doing lately.

🌳 Reshaping the large Bay tree. Now lots of people in Spain have a Bay tree in their garden, and most of them are just amorphous, shapeless lumps (the trees not the people). Now it needn’t be this way, the Bay tree is an attractive evergreen which complements many Spanish gardens and if shaped correctly it can add focus and texture to your garden as it is a useful foil to Yuccas and Palms etc. The photos below show my large Bay tree prior to its annual reshape (click on each photo to enlarge).

You can if you wish just shape the tree up by running a hedge cutter over it to make a rounded or pointed shape. But in my case I wanted to copy the Spanish style of donut shaped trees that you see in the large towns and cities. To achieve this you first need to get up into the tree (or get a professional) locate what is obviously the central trunk, and then cut this out with a chain saw. Be careful as Bays can have substantial trunks, and make way for the trunk as it falls straight down through the tree to the ground.

Once the main trunk is gone cut back any secondary large branches to leave a supporting “spiders web” of substantial branches supporting an outer structure of foliage. Then climb out of the tree and with a hedge trimmer begin the process of shaping the outside edges of the tree into a nice rounded shape. The photo below shows the array of tools I assemble for this task.

As you shape the outside of the tree you must be careful not to break through this outer ring into the centre of the tree, or you will ruin the effect for this year. The photos below show the initial shaping process half way through, (click on each photo to enlarge).

The final part of the process is to climb back into the tree make sure you are safe in the centre where the trunk used to be (or call in a professional) and with a hedge trimmer begin to open up the centre of the donut. Once you have done this you can flatten the top of the donut foliage and level off the foliage underneath. The end result should be a reshaped Bay tree that is eyecatching and will add interest to your garden. The photo below shows the Bay tree donut in all its glory. I took this whilst lying exhausted under the tree.

☠️ Being attacked by a Yucca. After the battle of the Bay tree I was sauntering past Cruella (my wife) when I mentioned my triumph, she mumbled something about sacred trees and retribution. I paid her no heed as she is always mumbling incantations. Anyway, as I wondered round to the compost bins a large gust of wind suddenly sprang up and a huge Yucca that grows close by suddenly bent forward and smashed 10 or more of its spikes into my scalp. Now I will let you into a little tip. Yuccas that are irrigated will have long green, but ultimately pliable spikes that will bend at the point. Unirrigated Yuccas will have hard brittle spikes with black ends that become like daggers.

Yes, you have guessed it, this Yucca was unirrigated and therefore delivered 10 or more stab wounds to my scalp all of which became imbedded. I was forced to approach Cruella for help to try and remove them. She offered her help with alacrity, which in itself should have been suspicious. But anyway, using a needle, tweezers and medical alcohol she pulled, stabbed and tortured me as she removed most of them. She left only one that was so imbedded it was impossible to remove.

Three days later I could stand the pain no longer and decided to shave part of my head to get at the last spike. Well. I managed to get it out after a struggle, but the photo below shows what Cruella has done to my skull. I confronted her, but she says it’s just a way of remembering her lottery number and not to worry; what do you think?

It all started when I told Cruella (my wife) that I hadn’t slept very well because I was worried about emptying the compost bin to mulch under the fruit trees. She told me not to be so stupid and find more important things to worry about. I explained to her that emptying a compost bin is like entering a marriage; both must be planned carefully, weighing up all the pros and cons and both can end badly if care isn’t taken. For some reason this made her angry and she called me an “unromantic pig” and said she didn’t like the metaphor I had used to compare compost and marriage. I pointed out that it was a simile not a metaphor; and that basically is how I ended up sleeping in the shed.

31st January: Things I have been doing lately.

🍊 Mulching under fruit trees. Nearly everyone in Spain has fruit trees in their garden: Oranges, Lemons, Persimmon, Fig etc are all common features. But often people will ask me why I have so much fruit when they have only 5 or 6 Lemons on a tree or that they have no Oranges at all. The key is to replenish the soil. Most citrus trees are tough with deep roots and can thrive in poor soil. But even the toughest tree will benefit from a little replenishment now and then.

The problem is that soil under trees becomes compacted which means that water runs off rather than getting through to roots. Similarly, years of fruiting takes it out of a tree and it needs a boost to revive it and get it going again. A good mulch will benefit your tree whether it is in the ground or in a pot. The photo below shows my fruit trees in fruit but waiting for their annual boost.

The benefits of mulching with good compost is that it adds micro nutrients back into the soil and it seals in moisture helping the tree to cope with hot summers. But you can’t just throw a bit of mulch on the soil and that is it. No, you have to prepare the soil, and your two biggest aids in doing this are the hoe to skim off weeds and the three pronged rake to plough the earth up and break impacted soil. Both these virtuous tools are shown in the photo below. Even if your tree is in a pot, still use a trowel or similar to break the soil up before mulching.

Before we move on to the excitement of emptying the compost bin, it is very important that after breaking up the soil and before applying the mulch that you water the soil copiously. Once placed over well watered soil, the mulch will seal the moisture in.

🐛 Emptying the compost bin. When you empty a compost bin it is the culmination of a long process involving 6 months to a year of applying garden waste etc to the bin accompanied by careful watering and usually adding a compost “accelerator”; which now I look at this sentence again it could be misunderstood as a laxative. Anyway, the idea is to get good rich compost to use for a range of activities in your garden including, sowing, potting and mulching.

The photo below shows my compost bins. The one on the left is full whilst the one on the right (which is due to be emptied) has had 9 months to compost down. Note how much the bin has been reduced by the chomping of insects and actions of beneficial microbes.

One of the byproducts of emptying out the compost bin is the giant blood oozing maggots which are a frightening but important part of my compost heap. This year the compost is exceptionally rich and friable which must be accounted for by the over 300 large maggots I removed from the heap and by our very hot summer. Normally, the maggots meet a watery end before being added back into the developing compost bin as giant maggot corpses. But this year, given the predicament of my upsetting Cruella, I decided that, as a love token, I would present her with a bowlful for use in her spells. From the photo below you can see her obvious delight.

🎍 Repotting plants into larger pots. Sometimes you need to repot a plant or growing cutting into a larger pot. Here is a little tip that will save you time and stop you over or underfilling with compost. First stand the plant in its old pot in its proposed new pot half filled with compost raising the plant to the level you want it to be at, photo 1. Then with the pot standing inside the new pot, fill around the pot with compost up to the top of the new pot, photo 2. Tamp the compost down around the pot and then swivel the old pot inside the compost, the aim is to be able to remove the old pot with the plant still inside it but leaving a hole the exact size of the plants roots, photo 3. Then pop the plant out of its old pot and place it directly into the hole in the compost that has been custom made for it, photo 4. Lastly, it is a good habit in Spain to mulch the plant with some light gravel to seal in water, especially in full sun plants, photo 5.

Sorry about the dramatic heading, but I am trying to make Lantana (Spanish Flag) that most quintessential of all Spanish flowers sound dangerous and edgy. I was hoping to take this post in a Scandi Noire direction to hold your attention, or at least stop you playing Candy Crush long enough to appreciate this little versatile plant, but, obviously this has failed. Anyway, at least you now know I’m going to talk about Lantana.

27th January: Things I have been doing lately.

✂️ Cutting back Standard Lantana. Nearly every garden in Spain will have some form of Lantana; whether in large bush form, smaller shrub or the trailing ground cover type. I don’t want to boast, but I’ve got all of them. But that is not the point, the point is that if you want to get the best flowers and growth out of your Lantana, now is the time to trim them. In case you have forgotten what Lantana looks like, the photo below will remind you.

By now all of your Lantana will be looking “woody” but still with some leaves and even flowers hanging on in there. But don’t be deceived if you leave it like this you will never see it’s true potential this Summer. What you have to do now is put on your glasses and get down close to the plant. When you do this you will see little rows of potential leaves just peeping out all the way up each stem.

You need to tidy and reshape each stem by going as far down each one as you prefer and cut just above a leaf node. Depending on the type of Lantana, I am happy to take off a half to two thirds of each plant. The Photos below shows a standard size shrub before and after its prune. (click on each photo for a larger view).

🌿 Cutting back Trailing Lantana. Trailing/ground cover Lantana can be treated in a similar way, but in their case I tend to cut by at least three quarters. The reason for this is that they tend to have lots of dead leaves and other garden detritus trapped underneath their stems and cutting them back gives you an opportunity to have a general clean out and deny slugs and snails a hiding place let alone “puppy dogs tails”. The photos below show some trailing Lantana before and after its prune. (click on each photo for a larger view).

🛢 Cutting back Lantana in pots. To be honest I don’t recommend growing Lantana in pots unless it’s a large pot and the shrub type. Last Summer I took some cuttings from my trailing Lantana. Most of them I planted back into the ground, but one I put in a pot by our front door as it was flowering so nicely. The photo below shows this little plant at the end of the year.

And from this you can see the obvious shortcomings of planting trailing Lantana in pots. That’s right, the long trailing stems are quite stiff and rely on lying on the ground for support, it will not trail over the edge of the pot liking a plant in a hanging basket, and instead the stems will just break. The second photo shows this little plant cut back and it is now planted in the ground where it will be in its natural element.

Dogs in the Sun playing with a shrunken head. Now I recognise that this post has been a bit dry and Lantana focused, so to lighten the mood here is a photo of the dogs playing with one of Cruella’s (my wife) old shrunken head experiments. You may have noticed that they are lying just beside where Cruella buried that giantess with just her legs sticking out of the ground.

The big Winter cut back is continuing and it is all go here. Whilst Cruella (my wife) was away I avoided the more dangerous stuff on account of the fact that the local hospital is low on my blood type. So mainly this has just been the big hedges and some Palms. But now Cruella is back from England (flew the usual way knees bent, leaning forward and holding on tight to the broomstick) I will be tackling the big Bay tree in my next post. Anyway, that excitement is for next time, let’s get going those Palms don’t cut themselves.

19th January: Things I have been doing lately

✂️ Cutting the big hedges. Along the front of our house we have planted a wide variety of hedging plants. These include Bignonia, Bougainvillea, Plumbago, standard Roses, Pink Trumpet Vine, Hibiscus, Lantana, Callestimon and a self seeded Pomegranate. I encourage all of these to grow in a riot of colour as they try to out compete each other for light and space. This means by the end of the summer I have a huge hedge that is massively overgrown and entangled. The photos below show parts of the hedge ready for cutting back. (Click on each photo for enlarged picture).

Now you can be pernickety about this and trim each plant individually, but this means you will still be doing it in June. Or, you can trim the sides uninformly then cut back all the tops to the same height. By doing this you create the illusion of a single hedge as opposed to individual plants. The only exception to this is the self seeded Pomegranate. As this fruits on old wood I leave it a little bit higher than the overall hedge to encourage more Pomegranate fruit. The picture below shows the trimmed hedge waiting to burst into glory in the Spring. (Click on each photo for enlarged picture).

🌴 Cutting back Palms. If you live in Spain you should know how to cut back Palms. But just to reiterate, try to keep your Palm fronds growing at a 45 degree angle. When they start to drop below this each branch will get very woody and become much harder to cut; you have been warned. The photos below show a section of my Palms ready to be cut back. (Click on each photo for enlarged picture).

You will note that the common denominator in each of these Palms is they are relatively reachable. Once you extend the ladder beyond one section you are in dangerous territory and more than likely in your local hospital casualty ward. The photo below shows some of my large Palms; these are over 40 foot high so definitely not to be tackled by the amateur but left to a professional Palmista.

The photos below show the newly trimmed Palms. If you can’t see the difference then I’m not speaking to you, it took ages. (Click on each photo for enlarged picture).

Well the Winter cut down continues and the excitement is building; I can’t sleep at night as I am constantly planning the next stage. My overall plan is to build things up to a crescendo by working up to the big hedges along the front lawn, then finish with a flourish by reshaping the large bay tree back into its donut shape – such fun!

OK, I accept that some people – a few – don’t get excited by the big cut down, but the least you could do is get out there and do a bit of cutting back, your garden will benefit and so will your health. Speaking of health, gardening is one of the healthiest things you can do. However, and unfortunately, Cruella (my wife) has gone back to England for a couple of weeks (she told me it is the manadatory period of mourning for the cat). This in effect means that from my point of view gardening stops being healthy and becomes an “extreme sport”. In her past absences I have achieved the following: smashed my skull open to the bone, fallen into numerous hedges, fallen off of so many ladders that I have been given an award, almost bled to death on two occasions, got trapped in the compost heap and flooded the garden.

Anyway enough of this rambling, let’s get on with the gardening.

9th January: Things I have been doing lately.

🌷Pruning Roses. Now is the time to cut back your Roses. Be brave, start by cutting out all growth that’s crossing over, then cutback weak stems, then go for it cut the whole thing back by two thirds. I know it looks extreme, but Roses love it and will reward you with more blooms. Don’t feed yet, wait till March. The photos below show my Rose beds in their freshly pruned state, in a few weeks time they will spring into growth. By the way, before you ask, I haven’t shown you the pruning stage because it involves severe loss of blood and multiple scratching and cuts, so much that people are asking me if I am self harming.

🧝‍♀️ Cutting back Dame de Noche. Everyone in Spain should have the lovely night scenting Dame de Noche. If you have one, now is the time for the big cut back. Mature plants should be cut back by at least two thirds. Cut just above a leaf node and aim to develop a rounded shape. If you are growing against a wall then aim to create a fan effect coming out from the wall. The photos below show my Dame de Noche prior to pruning and after its very fetching haircut.

🌾 Cutting back grasses. Now is the time to cut back your large ornamental grasses. I have a large Fountain grass that I only cut back slightly last year in the hope of creating a bigger grass. This was a mistake that I paid for in weak growth. So be brave cut your grasses back to a small mound and shape it in a bevelled round shape. The first photo below show my grass in its wilting Winter coat, the second photo shows it severely cut back; my reward will come in May.

🌴 Cutting back Palms. You will probably cut your Palms back two or three times a year and it is important to keep this discipline. Not only does it keep the Palms shapely and attractive (#@mePalms), but also it means you are cutting the fronds when they are still green as opposed to cutting them when they have turned brown and have become like iron. My recommendation, from experience, is only cut the smaller Palms yourself, anything that requires the second extension of a ladder can lead to an unexpected trip to hospital.

The first photo below shows some Canary Palms that I have grown in an island on our front path. These require cutting twice a year to make the path passable. The second photo shows the newly trimmed Palms. The effect you are looking for is that the fronds are standing upright, they will eventually drop below the horizontal by the next time they are due a trim.

✂️ Espalier Figs. Regular followers of this blog (and you are legion) will know that I have been growing a fig espalier up the wall of our outside kitchen for a number of years. The espalier process is very slow as you are bending and shaping a plant against its natural shape. But anyway, now is the time to prune Figs espalier or otherwise. Once the leaves are all off the tree quickly starts to show next years buds. This is the point when you prune them just before they go into leaf.

The first photo shows my espalier before I began to prune. The second photo shows the newly trimmed fig. Note that with espalier you have to be brutal and cut back to the main trunk and your selected side shoots.

The benefit of this process is that you get excellent stem cuttings. Dip the tip of each each one in hormone rooting powder and then place them into a pot, planting close to the sides. When they eventually root re-pot them and you have lovely new fig trees for you or for your friends. The photo below shows my potential new fig trees settling into their pot.

☠️ Killing broadleaved weeds on the lawn. If you have a lawn (I am not including artificial grass) then this is the time to kill broadleaved weeds on your lawn before they have time to set seed. Unlike most parts of the world, in Spain, our weeds grow fastest in the Winter because they just get scorched off in the Summer. You can’t use just any weedkiller on your lawn, you need to choose a selective weedkiller that will kill the weeds and not your grass.

The photo below shows the start of the process, the weedkiller I use, its victim and my marked up watering can showing its for weedkiller only.

‘The time has come the Walrus said to talk of many things: Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax – Of cabbages – and kings- And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings and why Processionary Caterpillars are still amongst God’s things”. Alright I admit it the bit about Processionary Caterpillars was put in by me. But I ask you, where else could you find great literature allied with gardening. I feel I am wasted on this blog; I’m going to write a book or start a night time radio programme aimed at insomniac gardeners who are worried about Processionary Caterpillars.

28th December: Things I have been doing lately.

🐛 Destroying Processionary Caterpillar nests. If you live in Spain or some other part of the globe that is blighted by Processionary Caterpillars then you will know the danger these blighters present both to humans and animals. The Pine Processionary Caterpillar is the larval stage of the Pine Moth. The moth itself is harmless if a bit ugly (but I know a lot of people like that). The problems is that it lays its eggs high up in Pine trees across Southern Europe, the eggs eventually hatch into caterpillars that feed voraciously on the trees during the night, but then retire to nests during the day that resemble large sacks of cotton wool. These hang from the trees and can contain hundreds of caterpillars who successfully hide from predators during the day.

The problem comes when the caterpillars descend from the trees and form large processions, sometimes 20 foot long with the lead caterpillar leading all the others in a poisonous conga that resembles a large snake. Each caterpillar is covered with long hairs that are extremely dangerous to both humans and animals, particularly dogs; (cats are too clever to bother). If you disturb the procession then the caterpillars release the hairs which float in the wind and can cause anaphylactic shocks in humans and animals if inhaled. It is quite common for dogs in Spain to curiously approach the procession and sniff it, only to receive a nose full of poisonous hair. In many cases this can result in dogs having to have operations to remove parts of their tongue. Most caring dog owners carry special antihistamines between January and March which is peak season for the caterpillars.

To stop all this happening you need to cut down and destroy the nests before the caterpillars descend and begin to process. The photo below shows me ready to start destroying the nests; note all the protective gear, this is necessary if you want to avoid any problems.

The basic idea is that you cut down the nests and then destroy them with all the caterpillars still inside. Look away now if you are of a sensitive nature. The first photo below shows a nest in the tree. The second photo shows your intrepid blogger bravely cutting it down ready for destruction; they have been known to land on my head.

Once you have the nests on the ground then you need to burn them. There is no other safe way to destroy them. During the burning process you must make sure that your nose and mouth are covered as hairs will float away and could enter your mouth or nose. The first photo below shows the nests contained in a metal container ready for burning. This is important in Campoverde as we live right in the middle of a Pine forest with the ground covered with very combustible pine needles that will soon give you a nice forest fire if you are not careful. The second photo shows the conflagration. I will not show you the aftermath, but it important that you burn every part of the nest and it’s contents and then leave the ashes covered overnight before disposing in a closed container (a tied up plastic bag is fine as long as there are no Whales around), don’t consider putting them on the compost heap.

I hope I haven’t scared you? If you deal with Processionary caterpillars every year then you will gradually reduce the nests (this year we only have two). If you fail to deal with them then eventually you will have ugly dead pine trees and no dogs.

I was going to go on and write about more cheerful things I have been doing but I am emotionally exhausted and Cruella (my wife) has just announced dinner is ready; just the usual old stuff: “Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing”. I expect you are having left over Turkey!

To be honest I’ve been back almost two weeks, but I have been too busy catching up with the garden that I have not had time to post anything. It has been a struggle to catch up especially as we have had to do lots of things for the Church; it is Christmas you know!

The excitement of Christmas and the birth of Jesus is a fantastic time of year; now I wouldn’t like to try and overshadow this, but the big January cut back is coming and I’m counting the sleeps till I can get started. Anyway on with what I euphemistically call the show.

11th December. Things I have been doing lately

☠️ Dealing with damaged Pomegranates. When I left to go back to England for a few weeks I left behind the best of my Pomegranates happily ripening on the tree. Upon my return I fully expected to be enjoying Pomegarante seeds liberally sprinkled on my Porridge. Unfortunately the birds had other ideas and plundered every last seed. Now pomegranates are usually quite immune to bird attack because of their unusually thick skin; Theresa May is a Pomegranate. However, once they become slightly overripe they can crack and this is the birds cue. Birds will visit Pomegranates every day and watch for the slightest crack. Once they see even the smallest crack they will use their beak to open up the whole fruit.

The lesson is to look at your Pomegarantes every day (no pun intended) and at the first signs of cracking harvest and if necesssary ripen off the tree. The photo below shows my poor Pomegarantes. I was about to place them in the compost bin, when Cruella (my wife), pointed out that they reminded her of a necklace of shrunken heads she once had as a child. She asked if she could have them and has since then been wandering around the house wearing them. To be honest they do look quite nice, she pairs them with her frog legs bracelet.

🐶 Repairing the lawn. Having two Labradors means that lawn repairs are a constant chore. To be honest they do not normally dig, they save this for their kennel area where they know it is ok. But when we are away Nero (the black one) suffers from separation anxiety and likes to dig holes and lie in them. The problem this time of year is you cannot plant grass seed. But in my case it is necessary to repair the hole or Nero will take it as permission to head for Australia.

I backfill the hole with a mixture of compost and normal soil and then cover over the restored area with wire mesh. This usually results in the surrounding grass creeping into to cover the bald area; but, if not I will just reseed in March. The first photo below shows the damaged area with the culprit sleeping in the background. The second photo shows the newly repaired and protected area. I have so much metal mesh in my lawns that they remind me of the moment in Terminator when Arnold Schwarzenegger has his skin scratched only to reveal he was a Cyborg.

✂️ Cutting back Cannas. You will remember a few posts ago that my Cannas were damaged by high winds, but I couldn’t cut them back as you have to wait for the leaves to die back. Failure to leave Cannas to die back as much as possible will result in poor growth and flowering next year as you have to let all the goodness from the leaves make their way back into the rhizomes (ugly bulbs).

Well now is is the time, you can cut them back. Cut each large stem back to between 4 and 6 inches from the ground. This length is important. Cut too low  and there is a danger that the stump may become water logged and rot. Cut too high and the plant will try to start growing again and produce weak growth. The first photo below shows the Cannas supported by stakes after the wind damage. The second photo shows the neatly trimmed stems ready to grow again in a few weeks. I intend to lift these plants and separate them next year as they have produced lots of ugly baby rhizomes.

🍂 Cleaning up leaves on gravel. If you have gravelled areas in your garden, and many people do in Spain. Then now is the time to clean fallen leaves off your gravel. If you fail to do this then the leaves will mulch down into a fine tilth and provide a perfect bed for weed seedlings. Failure to clear up leaves over a number of years will  result in your gravelled areas gradually becoming congested weed patches. The easiest way to clear up is to use a blower and blow them on to your lawn and then mow them up. Failing this get out there with your lawn rake and rake them up – it’s good for the waist line fatty.

The first photo below shows a part of my gravelled areas covered in leaves. The second photo shows the leaves blown on to a lawn ready for mowing. I believe this article is both interesting and informative; I showed it to Cruella and she laughed so much wine came down her nose – at least I think it’s wine.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, we are at our English house at the moment and the weather is appalling. It rains every day, there are freezing cold winds and it is dark by 4pm in the afternoon. This wouldn’t be too bad, but my body is programmed to automatically seek wine once it gets dark. If we have many more cloudy dark days I will be an alcoholic.

Our reason for being here, apart from drinking too much wine, was twofold. Firstly to welcome home from Japan the idiot son, where he has been single handedly saving the Japanese economy – at least that’s how he tells it. But also to see the mighty Tottenham Hotspur beat Inter Milan in the Champions league.

Now in between all this excitement I couldn’t wait to get out into the garden. Despite the cold and the wet, gardening must be done. I asked Cruella (my wife) if she wanted to come out to help, but she refused saying she would rather remain hanging upside down from the ceiling as it was warm up there. To be honest she prefers this time of year as it gives her so much more time without daylight.

28th November: Things I have been doing lately

✂️ Tidying up the front garden. If you have followed previous posts about the English house, you will remember that I try to keep things simple here. The front garden is mainly shrubs and trees set amongst pebbles with a low stone walled bed to the front with a smal hedge and other plantings. Meanwhile the backgarden is walled with flagstones and various climbers covering the walls.

Both gardens are small and easily maintained. In effect this is the ideal way to garden when you split your time between houses. The Spanish house has the large garden and takes a lot of love and maintenance. Whilst the English garden requires only a big winter cut back and a mid summer tidy up.

Anyway, I digress. From the photos below you can see that the front garden was becoming a bit overgrown and needed a cutback and tidy up.

From the photos above you can see there are a number of things that need tidying.

– The hedge in the raised walled bed needs trimming back. When doing this you should aim for a square top but make sure you camber the sides out slightly so that the lower edges of the hedge still get sun and there is no die back.

– The Yucca flowering spikes need trimming off. When handling Yucca always wear eye protection and gloves. Push long handled croppers right to the base of the spike and cut it back cleanly. Only leave flower spikes that that still have flowers. As soon as the flowering is over take off the spike.

– The small Yew by the front door (Taxus Media) is beginning to lose shape. It backs on to a wall and not enough sun is getting to the rear and one side. You have to trim these very carefully and make sure you do not cut into the brown, otherwise the plant may not grow back in these areas. As this plant grows it is becoming less shapely, despite my best efforts. It may have to go in the next year or two.

– Trimming back the large trees that are attempting to climb through the lounge window is the big job. This requires me to stand precariously on my small stepladder placed on unstable pebbles and wield an electric hedge trimmer at the full extent of my reach. I do not recommend this to those of you at home. I did promise myself that     I would get into the centre of the tree and trim back the branches to make a new lower and more manageable shape. But it was freezing out there so I gave up.

The photos below show the newly cutback and re-shaped front garden. What do you mean “you can’t see any difference”. Cruella said that when she eventually ventured out to pick poisonous mushrooms. If you look carefully at the second photo you can just see her foot sticking out of the ground; the ground was too hard to dig deeper. Three bloody hours that took me – no difference indeed!!

Those of you who are assiduous in your attention to this blog will remember the great skiing disaster of earlier this year, when Cruella (my wife) and I were persuaded to trying skiing in Austria by our idiot son. The outcome could have been disastrous to people of our advanced years, but luckily we had the good sense to quit attempting to try and ski after just one day and instead became professionals at Apré  Ski.

Anyway the whole point of this introduction is to offer you a host of things you could be doing in your garden rather than attempting skiing, or other extreme sports.

7th November: Things I have been doing lately.

💨 Rescuing wind damaged Cannas. Given that we live in lovely temperate Spain, there seems to be a lot of extreme weather about. Following the great drought, we had floods, then following the floods we had high winds. All we need now is a plague of locusts and I will be convinced that it is “the end of days”.

The winds have damaged a lot of tall plants including my lovely Cannas. Now the big problem here is that Cannas need time for all the goodness from their leaves to go back down into their Corm (ugly bulb). If this doesn’t happen then next years leaves and flowers will be much reduced. So you can’t cut the leaves off just to tidy the plant up. Instead you have to tie up the plant so that the leaves can fulfill the function that God intended for them.You can cut them down in January.

The first two photos below show my poor damaged Cannas. The third photo shows the Cannas tied up with one of Cruella’s old broomsticks. The shed is full of them, when they lose their twigs she puts them in there and I have to spend most of my time in there avoiding their erratic attempts at flight.

🗡 De-spiking Yucca. Tidying Yucca is similar to a military exercise. You first need to get fully kitted out. If you fail to do this, then prepare to bleed, because you most certainly will, or at the extremes get ready to lose an eye. The spikey leaves of Yucca are one of the most vicious weapons in the plant kingdom so you must be prepared. You will need, thick gardening gloves, good eye protection, sharp secateurs and a lot of luck. The easiest way to remove old Yucca leaves is to get below the plant and pull sharply down on each leaf one at a time. Given a good yank they should come away, those that don’t can be cut by your secateurs.

The first photo below show an untidy little Yucca that I have grown from a cutting. The second photo shows the same plant tidied up and looking rather handsome.

🛏 Tidying my Winter borders ready for Spring growth. I tend to leave my borders after the heady heights of Summer, so that I can let all the plants that self seed deliver some nice new little plants for me – and it never fails. Margeurites are great self seeders, yet I find it difficult to grow them from seed, so the solution is let them do the hard work. The photo below shows my untidy beds after Summer; to think Tracey Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize for her unmade bed, there’s no justice.

From this photo you can see that there are thousands of self seeded Margeurites of various sizes. Now the trick here is to weed and clear the bed at the same time as you are sowing the largest and most mature seedlings. When you dig the seedlings up you must ensure that you do not handle them by the stem, instead hold them by the leaves (it’s a bit like someone picking you up by the throat as opposed to holding your arm). Stems are easily damaged, you might not notice it, but the plant will not perform if it is damaged.

The first photo below shows the lovely root structure that the seedlings have grown. The second photo shows how to hold them as you gently ease them into their new home. The final photo shows my lovely “made” bed. (Click on each photo for a larger view).

🎖 Extreme weeding around bulbs. Welcome to the world of extreme weeding. I tend to liken it to the “Special Forces” area of gardening and actually consider myself more or less in the SAS, our motto is “who dares weeds”. Anyway, what I am trying to say that as bulbs start to show themselves by popping up at this time of year, you must be careful not to carelessly remove their growing tips by just hoeing over the top of them. Extreme weeding calls for the abandonment of the hoe and foresaking the trowel; yes, I mean hand-to-hand combat.

When bulb tips first appear they can look just like a blade of grass, and as they are usually surrounded by grass and weeds, this is an easy mistake to make. However, what you must do is get your hands in there, no gloves, and feel each stalk. Bulbs will have a more rounded and robust feel in as much as they will not bend very much. Grass on the other hand is thin and blade like and bends easily. You need to pull up all the grass blades growing around and between your bulbs so that they are not competing for nutrients. You will probably need to do this two or three times, until the stems of the bulbs are big enough to shade out the grass.

The photo below shows an area of bulbs that has benefited from “special forces” action. I wear my uniform when I am doing this and I have even awarded myself a medal; Cruella refused to attend the award ceremony, but both dogs and the cat were there.

Hooray its that time of year again when I regale you with advice on the merits of composting. Remember that Coca Cola advert that appears on the television every Christmas, where a large truck with a picture of Santa Claus on the side goes through towns accompanied by the sound track singing “holidays are coming…holidays are coming”. Well that has been me for the past few weeks I have been singing “compost special is coming…compost special is coming”. To say this has annoyed Cruella (my wife) would be an understatement, so much so that I now mumble it under my breath, and when she says what did you just say, I reply “nothing”. I know it’s not much, but I count that as a small victory.

Anyway, on with the show let’s keep the excitement bubbling.

30th October: Things I have been doing lately

🧠 Why compost. All garden soil gets depleted over time and lose micro nutrients either they just get washed away by the rain or the plants take them up and the soil needs replenishing. Composting can help improve soil by adding back these nutrients and encouraging helpful bacteria that will break down and improve your soil. When added to your garden compost will help suppress weeds, lessen the need for chemical fertilisers, retain moisture and give you a warm feeling that you are doing a “green thing”. So no matter what your motivation, by composting you will be improving your garden.

👨‍🎓 How to compost. You don’t have to make a big deal out of composting and anyone can do it. Whether you have a large garden or just a little patio garden with pots adding compost will improve your garden. The basic need is to have compost bin, or compost heap where you can store your compost. This can be very basic such as a little patch of your garden where you tip excess produce and cuttings etc. You could just have a heap in the corner covered by an old carpet, or if you like make a basic container out of chicken wire.  It might be easier just to buy a compost bin from a store and there are thousands of them, from basic one simple bin, right up to multi-bin purpose built composting systems.

As you would expect, I have a purpose built composting system consisting of two large bins with lid for easy access and doors that can be raised to allow me to get at the compost from the bottom. The photo below shows my composting system.

Now, I don’t want you getting compost bin envy, that’s not the idea. I designed these and had them built when we first moved to this house because this size garden calls for this amount of compost. There are fruit trees to be mulched, lots of beds that need seasonal replenishing, lawns that need some topping and all the planting and stuff on the potting bench.

🌿 What to compost. Now you can compost most organic material. Examples would be:

– all plant cuttings and mown grass

– vegetable trimmings etc from your kitchen

– old newspapers and cardboard

– hair and fur from your dog, cat, hamster or velociraptor

– twigs and branches up to about an inch thick

– eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags

– fruit, but not too many lemons or oranges as they will make the heap acidic

☠️ What not to compost. You must be careful not to compost the following:

– cooked food of any sort (this will encourage rats and cockroaches). This includes: meat, bones, fish, fat or dairy

– leaves or cuttings from plants that have been infected with disease or pathogens such as rust on Roses or mildew. If you compost these then you will infect the heap.

– dog or cat poo; and don’t even think of human poo.

🔐 The key ingredients of compost. Quite simply good composting requires four things:

1. Green items: that add nitrogen (grass, leaves etc)

2. Brown items: that add carbon (twigs, branches, newspapers etc)

3. Water: to keep the heap moist but not wet (don’t let it dry out, but don’t over soak it)

4. Air: oxygen is needed to encourage the composting process, so once a month you need to stir your compost with a fork or spade to keep the air circulating.

There is one other vital ingredient that you can choose to add to your compost heap, and that is “compost accelerator”. This is normally added as a powder which encourages the development of microbes in your compost heap and speeds up the composting process. The photo below shows all the key ingredients apart from air; but I assure you it is there. In the photo you will also see a special compost turning tool that I bought some 20 years ago. You just push this into your compost heap then the two little wings at the bottom of the rod come out as you pull up and the whole heap is lifted and turned. If you can find one, buy it.

🔭 What should  compost look like? A question I am always asked (I lead an interesting life). The photos below show the current state of my compost bins. The first photo is the bin currently in use, and you can see all the ingredients I talked about above. The second photo shows the resting bin that is just about ready for use. You can see from this photo that the bin is half empty, and this is because all the insects and beneficial microbes will have eaten stuff whilst making the compost. The final photo shows the finished compost; or as I call it black gold. Each of these bins will on average give me 20 wheel barrow loads of compost each year.

Gettting in the compost bin. One of the great joys at the end of a hard days gardening of trimming and cutting is to get in the compost bin and tread it all down. What do you mean you’ve never done this, just me then. The photo below shows me happily stomping up and down in one of my bins. Just after she took this photo, Cruella slammed the lid down and I was in there for two days. I must say they where the happiest two days of my life. She only got me out because the dishwasher needed emptying.

What happened was this, I was happily walking under a large Bay tree in my garden when a couple of brown leaves fell on my head. Given that they shouldn’t be falling this time of year and the fact that I am a fan of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I was aware of Sherlock’s famous dictum “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”. Therefore “cogito ergo sum” as my old friend Descartes used to say … it must be bloody white fly.

Now that opening paragraph is a tour de force of shoehorning literary allusions into a gardening blog and we haven’t even got to the plants yet. Anyway, on with the show there is work to be done.

22nd October: Things I have been doing lately

🚿 Spraying white fly. After the fateful leaf fall mentioned above, I looked up and the Bay tree was infested so heavily with White fly that you could barely see the leaves in some areas. There where millions of the buggers, and to be fair I should have seen this before as the area under the tree was covered with dead leaves. The first photo below shows a part of the infestation, whilst the second photo shows the ground under the tree. Click on each photo for a larger view.  It can be difficult to identify an infestation such as this because it could be Aphids or Mealy Bugs. But the tell tale sign is the clouds of small flys that take off when you disturb the plant.

Now, to be honest, white fly are immune to most insect sprays and ideally you should just try and knock them off with a jet of water. But this infestation was mega and needed drastic action. The photo below shows me in my full super hero garb as I battled the White fly. Hopefully I didn’t kill too many beneficial insects.

👃 Enjoying the scent of Dame de Noche. Because of the great drought and the subsequent heavy rains we are now enjoying the best ever blooming and therefore scent of our Dame de Noche (sometimes Galan de Noche). This night scenting Jasmine is a glorious addition to any garden as it gives off a very heady perfume at night. The plant itself is relatively plain and the flowers are more or less non descript. However, the scent at night is wonderful. It is worth planting near to a sitting out area or barbecue so that you can enjoy the beautiful scent. The photo below shows the Dame de Noche in full bloom; but if you sniff it during the day there is absolutely no scent, it is only at night that it releases its glorious smell.

🍊 Getting ready to harvest Persimmon. If you don’t grow Persimmons, then you should. Sometimes known as Sharon Fruits, this is a very tasty orange size fruit which when it is ripe can be scooped straight out of its skin. Cruella (my wife) says it has the consistency  of a tomato and the taste of a Peach (but then again she eats dead bats; sometimes before they die). The fruit ripens on the tree after the leaves have dropped, and you need to be patient and wait till the fruit turns a pinky red. If you pick it too early it has a strong astringent taste and it will suck all the moisture out of your mouth leaving you with puckered lips and a disapproving look. The photo below shows some of my Persimmon patiently waiting to turn pinky red.

🌿 Planting out Bush Lily. I had a plant growing under a North facing wall which meant it had lots of shade. Also it was growing under a substantial hedge of greedy Hibiscus etc but it seemed to be thriving and flowered with lovely deep orange flowers that then turned to berries. I took the opportunity to split the plant to create lots of new ones. The cuttings have been happily sitting on my potting bench for about five months (May the cuttings were taken) but I still didn’t know what it was. After extensive detective work (books, internet, plant finder sites) it is Bush Lily (Clivia miniata) that comes from South Africa.

This is an excellent plant for shady spots or under trees (not Pine; too acid) it’s bright flowers light up dark spaces. The first photos below show Bush Lily when it first arrived on the potting bench. The second photo shows the strong fibrous roots it grew over it’s time in a pot. The final photo shows some of the five Bush Lilies that I have planted out (plants for free, what’s not to like).

⛈ From drought to deluge. Many of you will have been fed up with me moaning about the great drought we have suffered here in Spain. The last few months have seen plants die and the lawn turn into the Sahara desert. But, as is the way with gardening it has all turned around and we have had torrential rain on a number of occasions. I have gone from having no water to having too much. I have filled every water butt, box, receptacle, dog bowl. Everything is bursting out, including the weeds which are enjoying a late summer renaissance, even my gravelled areas are beginning to look like meadows. The photo below shows just some of my water bounty – I have lots more. I am thinking of selling it back to the government.

Sometimes gardening can be a bit depressing. Things that you grew from seed or nurtured from a cutting, one day they just die on you. No note, no goodbye, one day they are there then they are gone. It’s true it’s always worse for those of us left behind. We are left wondering why? was it something I did or said; or didn’t do or say. Anyway the upshot of the depressing start to this post is that I have lost two of my favourite plants a Rose and Plumbago. I will try to cheer up, but this could end up reading like the most depressing book in history: Thomas Hardy “Jude the Obscure”

2nd October. Things I have been doing lately

🧟‍♂️ Dealing with dead plants. Sometimes death may not mean death (reference Jesus Christ) and there can be a way back. Anyway I went out one morning lately and found two dead plants. A lovely large Plumbago that I had grown from a cutting had suddenly turned brown literally over night. Normally I would suspect Cruella (my wife) had poisoned it or had been using it in spells, but, she swears she is innocent. This particular plant is part of an extensive hedge to the front of our house that also has a few more Plumbago but none of the others were affected.

Now Plumbago is very hardy and it takes a lot to kill it off. My first suspect was Whitefly, which can suck all the sap out of the leaves and debilitate the whole plant to the point of killing it. But I would have seen this happening. My next suspicion was that the irrigation under the plant had malfunctioned and delivered too much water that would eventually drown the roots. But I checked round the roots and it was not unduly wet. Nevertheless action needed to be taken.

When faced with this type of situation you have to be bold if there is any chance of saving the plant. Some plants such as Jasmine, the answer is to cut them right down to the ground. But this would not work with Plumbago, so I have cut it down to about two foot and hope that it may shoot from there, or suckers may come true from the root. I will let you know what happens.

The first photo below shows the Plumbago in its distressed state (if it was a horse it would have been shot). The second photo shows the Plumbago cut back and in intensive care. I have fed it some Iron to assist the roots to take up nourishment (in liquid form of course I’m not an idiot).

The Rose that appears to have died is Rosa Blythe Spirit, this is one of my favourite Roses which is a prolific flowerer and sometimes in the height of Summer needs to be deadheaded twice a day. Anyway, just like the Plumbago it went brown more or less overnight. Again like the Plumbago, the other Blythe Spirits in the same row did not die back. I have checked for all the usual suspects and I even sprayed for “Rust” in case it was an extreme case.

The photo below shows the poor Rose in its distressed state. Since I took this photo all the leaves have fallen off. I plan to collect up all the fallen leaves from under the plant in case they are harbouring a pathogen. I will then do a drastic prune and see if I can bring it back. But I fear this one may be gone and it will have to come out. I may then purchase another Rose to fill the gap or, I think I will try and take a cutting from one of the other Blythe Spirits.

🗡 Taking off Yucca flower spikes. By now most of your Yuccas will have flowered, and I hope you took the opportunity to enjoy the flower spikes. They have been fantastic this year because of the drought. If your flower spikes are too high because your Yucca has become too large, then it is time to consider chopping it back (but that’s for another day). You need to cut the dead flower spikes off now, as they will only go on to produce seed that you do not want, besides dead dried Yucca flower spikes are not a thing of beauty. Using long handled shears cut at the very base of the flower spike trying not to cut too many green fronds. If you need to get close to The plant then make sure you wear protective glasses as Yucca leaves are notoriously spikey and will easily damage your eyes.

The photo below shows one of my large Yuccas that I cut back a few years ago to create a more rounded shape. You can see that it has flowered profusely this year and therefore there are lots of dead flower spikes. Put the dead flower spikes on your compost heap.

👻 Scarifying the lawn. If you have a lawn now is the time to begin scarifying. Just cutting a lawn is not enough because a thick thatch of cut grass builds up at the roots and stifles new growth. Scarifying at least once a year will remove the thatch and encourage new growth. Now if you have a small lawn you can do this by hand using a lawn rake. It’s tiring but quite fulfilling as you can rake up lots of moss type grass. If you were in England this could be used as lining for hanging baskets; but as we’re  not put it in the compost heap but make sure you layer it in with other things.

I have just bought an electric scarifier and aereater that takes all the back breaking work out of scarifying. However, it gets a frightening amount of thatch out of the lawn and leaves it quite bare; hopefully it will recover. The photo below shows my new scarifier sitting on our biggest lawn at the end of a hard days scarifying. Note the wheel barrow full of thatch, this was one of 9 barrow full I got from this lawn alone.

☠️ Dealing with Cruella’s Creatures. Normally I put up with Cruella’s creatures; she has the cat, an owl a frog/prince and both dogs can be co-opted. The cat is the only true “familiar”, that is until the other night at dinner she suddenly informed me she had taken on something new. Just at that moment I looked down at her wine glass and there it was the “Wine Mantis” when you run out of wine it prays for more. Check the photo below, I have asked her if I can have a “beer bee”.

Cruella (my wife) and I arrived back from our English house to find that we had had a massive thunder storm in Spain whilst we were in England. Hooray, every water butt was full to overflowing, and the grass which I had fed before we went away was so green it could have been in Ireland. With this Great joy comes obvious responsibilities: grass needs to be mown, weeds need to be sprayed, Doves need to be sacrificed (as far as Cruella is concerned). But nevertheless besides these mundane chores there is lots of exciting things to do to keep an old gardener happy.

25th September: Things I have been doing lately.

🌴 Harvesting Dates. After my great success of sun drying figs I am now going to try sun ripening Dates. You will remember in my last post – if you were paying attention – that because of the great drought there was a huge crop of Dates on our Palms this year. Well, I have started to harvest them for the first time. Normally, I just leave them for the squirrels and the birds, but this year there are so many I thought. I deserved some. Dates can be harvested early and then will continue to ripen in the Sun.

The first photo below shows one of our few short Phoenix Palms overflowing with Dates. Most of our trees are about 30/40 feet high and I don’t trust Cruella to hold the ladder. But this one has enough fruit for an experiment in date ripening. You can leave the Dates on the tree to ripen fully, but the chances are that the squirrels and birds will beat you to it. Try not to harvest them when they are green, but wait just that little bit longer till they turn a yellowy colour.

The first job is to cut off the stalks which hold the dates in strands. This is a tricky job as the branches have long strong spikes sticking out all along their length. You should wear strong gardening gloves (but they will still get you). You can either cut the stalks off with a saw or, in my case I used long handled shears. The second photo below shows my crop laid out ready for separating the Dates from the stalks.

The next stage involves sitting in the shade and gently removing the Dates from the stalk by hand. You should only take the best ones with overall continuity of colour. The Dates  come off easily enough with a slight twist. The third photo below shows my Date stripping station (now I read that again it seems slightly creepy) sorry @#me too.

The final stage is to lay the harvested Dates out in the sun to ripen. As you can see from the photo below, I have laid the Dates on tea towels stolen from the kitchen and then covered them with a couple of Cruella’s hats. The idea of the tea towels is that it makes it easier to just wrap up the Dates and bring them in each night. I will let you know how I get on.

🍊 Feeding fruit trees. October is really the last month you should be feeding fruit trees. So, if you haven’t done it yet get out and do it soon. The process is very simple just hoe around the base of the tree to remove any weeds and break up the soil. Then apply the type of feed you prefer, but it must not be just a general feed, you need a specialist food for fruiting trees. You can get this in either liquid or granulated form. My preference is to use liquid form for most of the year, but for this last feed I will use a longer lasting granulated form. Liquid feed is a bit like fast food you eat it quickly, it tastes nice and then it’s gone. Granulated food is like a four course meal at a nice restaurant; you digest it slowly, enjoy every bit and always remember it. I am thinking of giving this garden stuff up and becoming a restaurant critic.

The photo below shows the feed that I use (others are available) note my trusty hoe standing near by (no I’m not going there again, I have already apologised), also don’t forget to hoe the feed in and also water it if it does not rain within two days.

Cruella (my wife) and I are currently at our English house, so I thought I would embellish my international gardening credentials by doing a two countries post on the blog. Before we went away I had some things to finish off in our Spanish garden and of course when I got to England I had the usual cutting back issues.

Anyway without any further ado let’s play international gardening.

16th September: Things I have been doing lately.

🍑 Removing nets from soft fruits. By now all your fruits such as figs and grapes should have finished fruiting and you can now take off the protective nets. If you didn’t put nets up then you probably didn’t have any fruit, but the birds did! It is important to take the nets off now as they can always be a hazard to small birds. The best thing to do is cut the nets off, they will probably have some holes in anyway, and if you try and take them off to save for next year you will only damage the tree. Nets are very cheap so don’t be such a cheapskate, buy new ones next year.

If you have Persimmons don’t take the nets off yet, for although the fruit appears hard, as it ripens on the tree so it becomes soft and the birds will be triggered by the bright yellow colour of the ripe fruit. Also don’t worry if all the leaves have fallen off your Persimmon tree this is meant to happen; the leaves are meant to sacrifice themselves for the fruit. A bit like Jesus, if you think about it.

The photo below shows some old bloke cutting the nets off a fig tree. Cruella says this is me, but I have a different image in my minds eye and I don’t believe her.

👅 Letting Mother in Laws Tongue see the light of day. Mother in Laws Tongue or Sansevieria trifasciata is a common plant here in Spain and is loved for its variegated leaves and drought hardiness. I have various clumps here in the garden and I noticed a large lump pushing through the membrane next to one of them. Out of curiosity I slit the membrane open and there were two new little Mother in Laws Tongue. From the photo below you can see they look just like the little creature that popped out of John Hurts chest in “Alien”.

🍇 Picking the grapes of wrath. The photo below shows the sum total of our grape crop this summer. I have three grape vines and this is all I get thanks to the great drought. Luckily I am not relying on this grape harvest for wine.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 And so to England.

As usual when we arrived our English garden is a bit overgrown and wild. But this actually quite suits it as it is set out as a small walled garden with the river as a backdrop.

✂️ Cutting things back in the back garden. The first thing I usually have to do is a gentle cut back of everything. The aim of this is just to shape things up a little bit and make sure we can walk up and down the garden safely.  The main cutback comes in January.

The first photo below shows the back garden just as I am about to cut it back. Apart from a general tidy up, in particular, I cut back the Roses that tend to have Hips at the end of the season. I am not really a fan of hips so I take them off so that the plant does not waste energy on them. Another plant that needs a tiny trim is the Hydrangeas. These grow over the pathway down the garden, but I really barely touch them. You must leave the spent Hydrangeas flowers on till next year’s new growth comes through. These protect the new growth from frost; this of course does not apply in our part of Spain, but in England it is very important.

The Second and third photos below show the Rose hips and the spent Hydrangea flowers. The final photo shows a large Oleander that I had to cut back a few years ago as it suffered in an English snow storm. I think I will cut it back again this year as it got a touch of frost last Winter and is just too big for its position.

✂️ Cutting things back in the front garden. The front garden like the back garden is small “but perfectly formed”. There is a small walled island bed planted with various shrubs lots of Yuccas and various medium size trees and shrubs. The main cut back here does not come till January, so again it is just a matter of tidying and trimming up. The only difference is the Yucca flower spikes. Like Spain the unusual hot weather in England has produced a fantastic and profuse flowering of Yucca. You need to cut these off when the flowering is over so that the plant does not waste its strength on seeds. The photo below shows the Yucca before trimming.